Our review of the festival

This review appeared in Blues Matters! Magazine

CITY BLUES AND ACOUSTIC ALL-DAYER De Montfort Hall, Leicester
Saturday, 5th May 2007
This was an ambitious event with 27 artists appearing over 3 stages all in the space of 12 hours. The auditorium hosted the main stage, with the acoustic stage across the corridor in the Garden Suite and the Robert Johnson stage housed outside in a marquee. Timings had been set to precision with shorter sets in the earlier part of the day increasing to longer sets for the headline artists, with the two auxiliary stages in use during the main stage turnarounds.
Between the stints on the Main Stage we took a look at the talents on offer on the other stages. There were three artists that we particularly wanted to see in the Garden Suite, namely The Two Timers, Kyla Brox and a solo set by The Blues Band's Gary Fletcher. However the room was small and crowded and the position of some large pillars restricted the view of the stage for many people so after a couple of numbers we gave up and went to see what was happening on the Robert Johnson stage.
The Marquee housing the Robert Johnson Stage was close to the main building and included the real ale bar. Initially we caught the end of Tony Jones' set, a song called 'Freedom Train' not enough to form a real opinion but liked what we saw and he received a good reception.
Dawson Smith and Simon Faulks broke away from their stint on the Main Stage with The Leicester All Stars for a 30 minute set of Texas and Louisiana nostalgia again we would have likes to have seen more. The subsequent act, Carlton Cole And Neil Brammell were more roots based with songs like 'It Hurts Me Too' and some of their own numbers, which still had an air of Deep South authenticity.
The second half of The Leicester All Stars graced the stage as The Blues Demons with more classic standards, we noted some great slide playing on 'Red Rooster' and they put an acoustic spin on 'Mary Had A Little Lamb', 'Bright Lights, Big City' and 'Before You Accuse Me".
The Forty Fours, a guitar and drum duo made quite an impression on us because of their unique sound. Original numbers grounded in Delta and Country Blues but with jungle rhythm and laced with a wide assortment of electronic effects. They are already on our "must see again list".
We deserted the main stage early to catch Ian Siegal's solo set, something that we have seen many times but never tire of because he has such a vast repertoire. Highlights were his arrangement of Robert Johnson's 'Stop Breaking Down', which sounds like he is playing two guitars at once and a tremendous a cappella version of Son House's 'Grinning In Your Face'.
The Jack Of Hearts Band were next up, a more rock flavour than the previous bands, we missed a sizeable part of the performance as time was running over on the main stage but enjoyed the few songs that we caught.
Fortunately we managed to see more of Nick Harper. Son of Roy Harper, he had been brought up with the likes of Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and Dave Gilmour hanging around his home and all these influences reflected in his performance. Superb versions of standards such as 'Whole Lotta Love' and 'Crossroads'. Acoustic guitar with the power of a rock band and vocals to match.
Last up on the Robert Johnson Stage were The Dirty Backbeats. Right from the first song our mouths dropped open as we tried to believe what we saw and heard. The best way to describe them in appearance was like the evil twin of The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and musically as an amalgam of the dark sides of Zappa, Beefheart and Waits with a touch of vintage Jethro Tull. Absolutely superb.
First act up on the main stage was Dr Teeth's Big Band, an eight piece jump jive band with a repertoire that was more cross genre than most of their swing orientated counterparts.  Great foot stomping dance music got the party started and was a hit with the audience, but seemed to lack some of the "fun" aspect that is such an attraction with many of their contemporaries like the Jive Aces and King Pleasure And The Biscuit Boys.
The Leicester Blues All Stars were an amalgamation of local artists, some of whom were also performing in their own right on the Robert Johnson Stage. The set list was a tribute to the three Kings, Freddie, Albert and B.B. with some extremely competent versions of such classics as 'Crosscut Saw', 'Everyday I Have The Blues' and 'Rock Me Baby'. Great to see that the Midlands is such a hotbed of talent.
Howard Smith And The Razors were the first band of the afternoon that we had seen before and had been on our "must see again" list for quite a while. We were not disappointed as they gave a stunning performance with Howard wringing out every note as he strutted across the stage on tiptoe in his unique style. We wish that he had been allowed long than the 30 minutes that his position in the running order had dictated, but quality compensated for quantity particularly with his superb version of 'Voodoo Chile'.
Next on the agenda was The Joanne Shaw Taylor Band with her brand of electrifying Blues guitar influenced by the likes of Steve Ray Vaughan. She played a set of self-penned numbers that are lyrically very good, but her vocals lacked the power and passion of her guitar playing.
We'd describe Jake Stigers And The Velvet Roots as more of a rock band with a heavy rhythm, laden with powerful driving riffs topped off with some gritty vocals. Nunzio Signore on guitar was particularly impressive, at one point using a voicebag as popularised by Peter Frampton and Jeff Beck in the '70s.
We have been fans of Ian Siegal for many years and we were looking forward to the bands' set with greater anticipation than usual. Over the last few months we have seen several of Ian's solo acoustic sets where he has previewed tracks from the bands forthcoming album. We thought that this gig might be the showcase of these numbers with the whole band. Alas it wasn't to be, but we weren't disappointed as in typical fashion they blazed though 45 minutes of humour, adlib repartee, wit, wisecracks and of course some damn good tunes.
We were knocked out by the Nimmo Brothers the first time that we saw them a few years ago, since then they split up and went their own ways but now they are back with a vengeance. Both Alan and Stevie are excellent guitarists in their own right but together trading lead breaks they are an unstoppable force, sheer power from start to finish. They took the roof off the hall as they stormed through well-loved tracks from their old albums and equally impressive material from their new album.
Ending the show on the Main Stage were Sherman Robertson and Bluesmove. We had seen Bluesmove several times over the years backing Mick Pini and Howard Smith but it was the first time that we had seen Sherman who was every bit as good as we had expected. He commanded the stage from the onset, wowing the audience with some potent Texan guitar blues. 
We left exhausted, as if we had seen a weekends worth of blues in the space of a few hours. Well-done Leicester, an excellent blend of local, national and international talent.
Tony Winfield & Sue Hickling